IESB caught up with actor Christian Bale, screenwriter Jonathan Nolan and director Christopher Nolan, who talked a bit about the Bat-themed sequel. "I've spoken with Chris [Nolan] about it but I haven't read anything yet," Bale said, revealing even he is in the dark. "I trust him completely."

The director replied, "We finished constructing that character and so we were able to sorta think about that. You know, his cast was a series of fortunate events, he expressed an interest. I hadn't really thought that he would be interested in doing it but it was worth a try so it was actually a very early conversation. Then, you know, we realized we were seeing the same character."

Christopher Nolan is quoted at Sci Fi Wire as finding some things about the sequel easier. "There are certain things that obviously you're not having to worry about and spend time on," Nolan said. "We've already made the Batmobile. We already have the main members of the cast. So, yeah. But, frankly, the new film poses all kinds of new challenges, so it'll be just as tricky in its own way."

Finally, IC Liverpool is reporting that the production may head into the storied British town. "Film location manager Robin Higgs was in the city yesterday looking at locations for the sequel to the smash movie 'Batman Begins.'"

THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS

Ain't It Cool News has a teaser video for the underground comics adaptation. It's a video based on YouTube, so smoke 'em while you've got 'em ...

TONIGHT, HE COMES

According to Variety, "Columbia Pictures has set Peter Berg to direct 'Tonight, He Comes,' the long-gestating film that will star Will Smith as a superhero in existential crisis. Pic begins shooting in May for a summer 2008 release. Akiva Goldsman, Michael Mann, James Lassiter and Smith produce. Berg is the third helmer to join the project, but the producers feel he'll be the one to bring the project to fruition after Jonathan Mostow and Gabriele Muccino ankled previously over creative differences. Berg's emergence puts the pieces in place for a project that's morphed in a 10-year development cycle from a quirky Vincent Ngo script to one scribe Vince Gilligan has recrafted into a potential summer tentpole. The quartet of producers have supervised myriad Gilligan rewrites that accentuated the superhero's love affair with a married housewife. That has turned the latter role into one coveted by actresses. Charlize Theron is the favorite to take the job."

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES

Right here at CBR you can check out an in-depth feature with head writer and story editor Rob Hoegee.

Actor Hugh Jackman talked about his Canucklehead role with IESB while promoting his new film "The Prestige." "We just now signed off on the ['Wolverine'] script," Jackman said. "If you know the history of the 'X-Men' movies, this is a revolution for us. We're a year away from shooting the film and we have the script, and by the way it's unbelievable. It's the David Benioff script. He's a huge fan. You guys know Benioff, one of the hardest working writers in town. He was beating down our door to write this movie. It was like the most amazing thing. So we have this fantastic script and I have a couple movies coming up in the next month and I might be able to tell you who the director is by then. We are in serious talks right now."

HELLBOY: SWORD OF STORMS

You can check out some screen captures from the animated film over at Comics Continuum. The film premiered Friday, October 27th.

GHOST RIDER

A new entry on the film's video blog shows another look at Nicolas Cage transforming into the Spirit of Vengeance.

AVP: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Variety also reports that Kristen Hager (CW's "Runaway") has been tapped for 20th Century Fox's "AVP: Survival of the Fittest" for directors Greg Strause and Colin Straus. John Davis is producing the film, which is shooting in Vancouver.

TRANSFORMERS

Over at producer Don Murphy's message boards, author David Cian revealed that he will be writing the "prequel novel" based on concepts that lead up to the Michael Bay-helmed film.

SMALLVILLE

Over on their video hub, the network has posted an expanded trailer for next week's episode, "Arrow." Devoted to Smallville was the first to post the official network description for upcoming episode "Fallout," guest starring rapper/actor Bow Wow. Their arch rivals at Kryptonsite has trailer caps from the "Arrow" trailer, and a rumor about actor Tom Welling directing an episode this season as well.

HEROES

Superhero Hype has an interview with actor Masi Oka, who plays the time-stopping, teleporting office worker Hiro Nakamura. "This is like a dream come true," Oka said. "It's a two-fer first of all! Just having teleportation or chronokinesis is bitching, but to have both ... that's like a two-for-one deal! I personally think that Hiro is just overpowered and he needs to be nursed a little. That's just me, but don't tell the writers that! I think that's so frickin' awesome. The great thing about it is that I know I'll be working with a lot of special effects stuff because of that, and that's always a joy for me, because I used to work at Industrial Light & Magic, so I know how it works on the backside, so now I get to see the front of it, so it's a cool mix."

KEEPING IT REEL

We can't do this without you. The rumors, the scoops, the set photos -- they're all fueled by passionate fans emailing in the goods. The ones who ask, "What do you mean your sister's dating somebody who works for Miles Millar?" The ones who know the code names of movie projects and scour city permit filings for them. The devoted, the involved. Fans, just like you. Whatever you know, we wanna know, and whether you want your name shouted to the web's rafters or kept closer than a classified report, we've got you covered like a comforter. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is your humble scribe Hannibal Tabu (web site, MySpace blog) saying thank you for your time and indulgence, my CBR email is still MIA so be patient with me (I screwed up my prefs and stuff) and "enough talk -- let's go make with the 'biff' and the 'pow' already."